President Joe Biden condemned violence and destruction on college campuses while defending the right for pro-Palestinian protesters to peacefully demonstrate in his first public address on this week's unrest on college campuses.

Biden, in previously unscheduled remarks Thursday, called peaceful protest "in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues," but he said "violent protest is not protected."

"Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It's against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows shutting down campuses, forcing the cancelation of classes and graduations, none of this is a peaceful protest," Biden said. "There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos."

Biden said he does not believe governors should call out the National Guard to quell the protests and that the demonstrations have not compelled him to reconsider his Middle East policies.

Police sweep onto UCLA campus, remove pro-Palestinian encampment

Police in riot gear swept onto the UCLA campus Thursday and tore down makeshift barricades and a pro-Palestinian encampment that had drawn hundreds of protesters and was attacked by counterprotesters earlier this week.

The predawn crackdown at UCLA marked the latest flashpoint for protests scattered across U.S. colleges amid mounting anger over Israel's war in Gaza and growing impatience on the part of school administrators to allow disruptions they say make their campuses unsafe.

At UCLA, officers made several arrests and scuffled with student demonstrators who had enforced a strict code of no violence throughout a protest that drew several hundred people. By dawn, police had cleared the plaza of the tents and plywood walls that had formed the camp for a week, but a smaller group of protesters remained assembled just outside that area.

California Highway Patrol spokesperson Alejandro Rubio told the Associated Press that 132 arrests were made on the UCLA campus during an operation involving about 250 officers.

UCLA canceled Wednesday classes after counterdemonstrators battered a makeshift barricade around the encampment. Chancellor Gene Block, who blamed the violence on a "group of instigators," said the student conduct process has been initiated and could lead to disciplinary action, including suspension or expulsion. All classes pivoted to remote learning Thursday and Friday, the school said.

Developments:

∎ A "large demonstration" was underway on the College Green at the University of Pennsylvania, the school's public safety office said in a campus alert, urging people to avoid the area and saying police were at the scene. A Gaza Solidarity encampment was set up last week.

∎ Officials at the University of California in Berkeley have opened talks with student leaders regarding the encampment set up in front of the school's Sproul Hall since April 22, the Daily Californian campus newspaper reported. The school said "skirmishes'' at the site between protesters and counterdemonstrators Wednesday evening resulted in three people sustaining minor injuries.

∎ Pro-Palestinian supporters agreed to remove their four-day encampment at the University of Minnesota following an agreement made with school leadership.

∎ Students at several French universities, including La Sorbonne and Sciences Po, have barricaded or occupied areas of their schools in protest of the war in Gaza.

All quiet at Columbia University

More than a dozen law enforcement officers and security personnel remained posted Thursday along the metal barricades at and around the Columbia University gate where pro-Palestinian protesters were taken into custody Tuesday night.

The encampment that made Columbia the epicenter of campus protests across the nation lasted nearly two weeks before being taken down by police Tuesday.

The semester's remaining classes and final exams will be conducted online, the school's provost said Wednesday.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, in an interview Thursday with NPR, said more than 40% of those arrested Tuesday at Columbia and City College of New York protests were not affiliated with either school. (Source: USA Today)

Story Date: May 3, 2024